And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith […] Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things’” (Acts 15:7-17).
We are the most fortunate and blessed people who live upon the earth. We now have heard the Word of the Gospel. We have believed. Through Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, we now have unfettered access to the Father and have received the blessed promise of the Holy Spirit. The giving of the Holy Spirit was seen by the Apostles as the restoration of David’s tabernacle. Why is the restoration of the Tabernacle important? The story of the Tabernacle, the place that God inhabited, is found in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel 6.
David goes to the house of Abinadab to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. They place it upon a new cart, thinking this to be a great honor for the Ark. Along the way, one of the oxen stumbles and Uzza places his hand on the Ark to steady it, and he dies suddenly. David becomes angry with God and refuses to bring it to Jerusalem but leaves it with Obed-Edom for three months. These three months bring unprecedented blessings to Obed-Edom’s home.
David repents of his anger toward God and inquires of the priests the manner in which the Ark should be transported. They bring it to Jerusalem upon the shoulders of the Priests and place it in a tent that David erects for it. The Ark of God is not behind a curtain but in the middle of the tent.
This tabernacle prefigures our place in God’s Kingdom. We are not separated from God by a veil. There is not separation. Jesus’ sacrifice ripped the veil that had always before been present. Now, full communion is possible. Unobstructed access is ours, just as He designed it. Let us as His own special people seek Him with unprecedented vigor, knowing our purpose as we pursue our God.